Thranduil Armor style lines help

[thedandandandy]

Hi all! I have a question regarding Thranduil's cuirass. I realize his was sculpted and cast from a mold, but I only have the ability to work with WonderFlex as its what I have on hand. Anyhow, my question is as follows: how do I get the side edges to come in at the waist the way his does? I've seen people recreate this armor without nipping it in at the waist and the straight lines cause the piece to look very rigid and "off" (no disrespect to their hard work, I just want an accurately fluid visual line). The front is made up of two pieces ("seam" at center front) and I'm not worried about getting the curve correct at that seam. It's getting it in at the side that's causing me confusion. Any seasoned plastic workers have any advice? The following picture shows what I'm meaning. If you look at the shadows cast by the metallic finish and how the shapes are effected by the light, you can see the curve that I am meaning and how it "pulls in" all the way around at waist level.

 

[thedandandandy]

Annnnnnd bump! Because I still want to make this happen. A lot. Thanks!

 

[RogueMonster]

I'd look to women's clothing for hints on how to attack this. Instead of "nipping", do a curve on the side.

 

[FrontaLittle]

If wonderflex is comparable to worbla, I'd get a (female) mannequin, just the torso section on a stick, tailors use them I think.
Use that as your "mold" to get your sandwiched wonderflex armor pieces in the desired shape. Probably apply some eva foam pieces to the mannequin to adjust it's shape if needed.

Just an idea, I don't know how wonderflex behaves when heated. I'm working on a project right now where I need to shape large worbla pieces and I wish I had made a makeshift mold or mannequin of some sort. Would have made my work way easier.

 

[thedandandandy]

I'd look to women's clothing for hints on how to attack this. Instead of "nipping", do a curve on the side.

I've been looking more heavily into the extra bts featurettes on the BluRay and I think I've stumbled upon something that will help me out. They have a part where they are comparing two of the same piece of armor in different finishes, and if you look, you can definitely and very clearly see where they "soldered" two pieces together. Whatever material they used to create this shaping seam hadn't been sanded down yet. So, I'm thinking there are seams/joins hidden under the intricate filigree work. Plus. I'm lightly corseting under this to keep the posture in place. So. "Lady seams" will be used in abundance. Now. To make a duct tape double and work it out in poster board!

 

[thedandandandy]

If wonderflex is comparable to worbla, I'd get a (female) mannequin, just the torso section on a stick, tailors use them I think.
Use that as your "mold" to get your sandwiched wonderflex armor pieces in the desired shape. Probably apply some eva foam pieces to the mannequin to adjust it's shape if needed.

Just an idea, I don't know how wonderflex behaves when heated. I'm working on a project right now where I need to shape large worbla pieces and I wish I had made a makeshift mold or mannequin of some sort. Would have made my work way easier.

This was exactly my plan! Just could wrap my brain would how the plastic was going to get those curves until I noticed that they seamed multiple shaped pieces together. Which is weird, since they claim to have cast this from a sculpt and is made of one piece.

 

[FrontaLittle]

This was exactly my plan! Just could wrap my brain would how the plastic was going to get those curves until I noticed that they seamed multiple shaped pieces together. Which is weird, since they claim to have cast this from a sculpt and is made of one piece.

They could have made a prototype made of several pieces. Once molded and cast, it's still one piece. If you have access to it, I recommend the bonus stuff they put on the hobbit bluray trilogy box. The appendices as well as the chronicles. Weta shares a lot of information on several armor designs and creations and behind the scenes footage. I snatched a lot of the references for my dwarf from there

 

[thedandandandy]

They could have made a prototype made of several pieces. Once molded and cast, it's still one piece. If you have access to it, I recommend the bonus stuff they put on the hobbit bluray trilogy box. The appendices as well as the chronicles. Weta shares a lot of information on several armor designs and creations and behind the scenes footage. I snatched a lot of the references for my dwarf from there

Gotcha. Possible. The seams are visible behind one of the pieces of scroll work in the final piece also. Maybe they rid themselves of as many as they could, but a couple were still required. The extra bits on the BluRay is where I saw the seams. I guess now it's just to do the build, fail, fix, build, fail, fix until I have to start the *gulp* shoulder pieces.